Since the Wright Brothers were from Dayton, Ohio; and we guess-timate that is Tuck's home state. A nickname like the Pilots, Flyers, etc. might be appropriate. Actually, if we were going for appropriate Muggers, Thugs or Homophobes would be a better fit. However,.....

Unfortunatly, given the character of the team we've seen so far I can't come up with anything not along the lines of the Fightin' Assholes. Which is mildly amusing at best, and totally unusable. I just can't give them a good name.

If McAllen opened around the early 1960s (as many suburban schools did), it very likely would have been given an alliterative team name. Mustangs became a really popular team name after Ford brought out the car. Mavericks got some play, with help from the television show. Marauders sounds good -- like McAllen it's three syllables with stress on the second -- but doesn't lend itself to mascots and school cheers all that well. Monarchs would be a possibility. Monsters probably not; the term didn't really get a positive vibe until a decade or so later. Millers (like other occupational names) generally would indicate a school that's a good deal older, and there's been little or no indication that the school dates back to rural times (no 4H Club or FFA, for example).

With a Red Bluff High in the vicinity, Highlanders could have been rejected as misleading, if it hadn't already been taken.

One more on the flying motif: Aces -- especially if the school opened after the Snoopy vs the Red Baron craze, mid-decade.

Having *gone* to a school that did the "Highlanders" bit, I can't see McAllen doing it. If they did, there are things that go with it that would have shown up by now. Like the cheerleader outfits having a tartan skirt. And likely the band wearing kilts.

But I've got a question... has Ellen ever mentioned what the school colors are?

Having *gone* to a school that did the "Highlanders" bit, I can't see McAllen doing it. If they did, there are things that go with it that would have shown up by now. Like the cheerleader outfits having a tartan skirt. And likely the band wearing kilts.

Having gone to two colleges that were the "Fighting Scots," I have to agree.

Quote:

But I've got a question... has Ellen ever mentioned what the school colors are?

Not so far as I know. The only color I could find, in a quick check, was the "black nylon" covering Tuck's buttock in the cheer uniform. If that was the self-panty of the skirt, and not Ashlee's lingerie, then black would be one of the colors, presumably.

Having *gone* to a school that did the "Highlanders" bit, I can't see McAllen doing it. If they did, there are things that go with it that would have shown up by now. Like the cheerleader outfits having a tartan skirt. And likely the band wearing kilts.

Having gone to two colleges that were the "Fighting Scots," I have to agree.

Yeah. A pipe band at McAllen would have been fun, though.

Quote:

But I've got a question... has Ellen ever mentioned what the school colors are?

Not so far as I know. The only color I could find, in a quick check, was the "black nylon" covering Tuck's buttock in the cheer uniform. If that was the self-panty of the skirt, and not Ashlee's lingerie, then black would be one of the colors, presumably.[/quote]

That's what I was thinking too. And since I doubt she'd have regular panties in with her uniform, I'd be inclined to think that it was the opaque ones for the cheer outfit.

The boatmen dance and the boatmen sing,
The boatmen do most anything.
And when the boatman comes to shore,
He spends all his money and he works for more.

McAllen Boatmen? Or Rivermen?

They'd have the wonderfully horrible song, which would be traditional to sing at pep rallies and things, and everyone would just hate it. It's also got the particle "men," and would no doubt have already been attacked (by '97) for sexism.

All this assumes that our identification of Cinci as a location is correct, of course. If it were a city not on the Ohio River, it's a much less likely name.

But, you know, the river's "blue" (traditionally), so school colors black and blue ... heh, heh. Or Blue and White (prompting cheer uniforms that look like sailor suits? err, but next we'll have tentacles ...), with the cheer panty as a contrasting color (blue and white skirts, mostly white top with sailor-style blue vee at the neck/bosom). Cute. All the more reason Tuck wouldn't have worn the uniform, though, he reads manga, he would know about the tentacles ....

A quick look at the names of Ohio High School teams is ... amusing.
Amongst the variety of Cats/Animals and Devils of many colors, the Fighting Owls and Battling Bees, there are some names that are imaginative and unusual such as the Locomotives and the Zips. Yes, that is correct, the Akron Zips. (Supply your own motto)

If black is one of the school colors, it'd increase the possibility of a name like Tigers (gold and black or orange and black).

The Aces could be red and black, like playing cards...

The school I went to my senior year had colors of red, black and white.

An evil thought that crossed my mind (influenced, no doubt, by a certain propaganda poster) was the McAllen Nazis...

Though if McAllen had a "military" themed team name, that'd make the poster even *more* evil.

My guess is that whatever they have *won't* be something involving a "mascot" in one of those overgrown "fur suits". Because if it did, that suit would have been a *prime* target for sabotage by da Boyz.

So odds are that at most, the "mascot" is someone wearing a fairly simple costume. "Just" clothes.

Per discussion of how the school colors might relate to the team, let me just make the point that that there doesn't necessarily have to be any relation. There are some wildly inappropriate color combos out there especially in areas where you've got relatively large numbers of schools possibly competing and want to maintain the visual differences of each. My real life example: My high school was the Tigers and instead of the black and red or black and orange oft mentioned here... our colors were purple and yellow. What jungle would that tiger be camo'd for? In other words let's not let the colors be a straitjacket. Hell, as a small note of justice in the discord that is McAllen, the team _ought_ to be stuck in some truly awful color combo.

Per discussion of how the school colors might relate to the team, let me just make the point that that there doesn't necessarily have to be any relation. There are some wildly inappropriate color combos out there especially in areas where you've got relatively large numbers of schools possibly competing and want to maintain the visual differences of each. My real life example: My high school was the Tigers and instead of the black and red or black and orange oft mentioned here... our colors were purple and yellow. What jungle would that tiger be camo'd for? In other words let's not let the colors be a straitjacket. Hell, as a small note of justice in the discord that is McAllen, the team _ought_ to be stuck in some truly awful color combo.

Or like the Smallville High Crows -- red and yellow (gold?). I'm not an ornithologist, but I seem to recall that crows are usually black.

Or Blue and White (prompting cheer uniforms that look like sailor suits? err, but next we'll have tentacles ...), with the cheer panty as a contrasting color (blue and white skirts, mostly white top with sailor-style blue vee at the neck/bosom). Cute. All the more reason Tuck wouldn't have worn the uniform, though, he reads manga, he would know about the tentacles ....

BAHAHhaahahahahahahah!

SHIT why didn't you MENTION THIS before I started WRITING so I could've INCLUDED it from the BEGINNING!?!?

Or Blue and White (prompting cheer uniforms that look like sailor suits? err, but next we'll have tentacles ...), with the cheer panty as a contrasting color (blue and white skirts, mostly white top with sailor-style blue vee at the neck/bosom). Cute. All the more reason Tuck wouldn't have worn the uniform, though, he reads manga, he would know about the tentacles ....

BAHAHhaahahahahahahah!

SHIT why didn't you MENTION THIS before I started WRITING so I could've INCLUDED it from the BEGINNING!?!?

"Yeah!" Tuck enthuses. "The McAllen Hentai!"

AHAHAHAHa*falls off terminal*

Given how creative you are, I have faith that you can find a way to work it in...

"Aitch!" the crowd roared back. Some members of the crowd looked at one another curiously. "Hate something?" "Hot?" "H-what?" They hadn't heard this cheer--or seen the new cheerleaders, of course, so they expected innovation.

*Oh, shit,* Mike thought, shaking his head before exchanging a glance with George. *They should never've let her on the squad.*

Valerie was suffering a giggling fit, apparently, but got herself under control, and leaped once more, waving the pompoms vigorously. "What's that spell?" she screamed.

The crowd looked *really* baffled at that; even Jill and Kathy exchanged confused glances. Mike groaned, hiding his face in his hands, as Dan and George exclaimed "Cool!" at the same time, their eyes gleaming.

"Hentai! Hentai! Hentai!" the two of them bellowed, leaping to their feet. On the sidelines, Valerie collapsed into helpless laughter.

*It's gonna serve you right when the tentacles start oozing out of the water dispenser,* Mike thought, sourly, as Jill frowned speculatively while Kathy glared and demanded, "What's the joke?"

All athletic team members, cheerleaders or other participants in school-related extracurricular activities must confine their relationships to terrestrial humans; specifically, all extra-planar and cross-morphological relationships are banned, with the penalty being removal from the team or extracurricular activity immediately upon confirmation of such activity.

"Y'know," George says speculatively as they watch the cheerleaders prancing about, far below, "maybe we shouldn't bug 'em. I mean, what if they shout something and hit us with a special attack?"
Mike snorts in disbelief. "Yeah, sure, so they yell, 'CRISIS MAKE UP!'," which gets him some curious looks, "and then start swirling around with special sound and lighting effects... meanwhile, _I_ am getting the FUCK out of the beaten zone, you know? AWAY, like."
"Push someone else in," Dan suggests.
"Yeah, let 'em hit one of their friends or something," George agrees.
They watch quietly for a minute.
"Y'know, it'd almost be WORTH it to see 'em do that," Mike muses...

*Oh, shit,* Mike thought, shaking his head before exchanging a glance with George. *They should never've let her on the squad.*

"Man, why'd they let that little fag on the squad?"

"'Cause," Valerie grins as she gives herself some room. "I got special powers!" she says in that idiotic perky cheerleader voice Sabrina had taught her.

"Oh yeah? Like what, Super-Fag-Boy?" sneers one of them as they all loom angrily closer.

"CRISIS!" Valerie shrieks as her hands drop to her skirt. "MAKE!" She pulls the twin wakizashi out of the specially tuned sheaths that make that delightful ringing tone, and rotates the blades as she lifts them above her head. "UP!"

"You guys wanna dance?" she asks sweetly, her teeth bared, as she spins both blades in counterpoint.

"Ohhhhh," she hears Mike vocalize from behind her. "These powers, are not to be used, on mere mortals." She knew he was doing the Speaking-Without-Synching trick from the deeper than usual voice.

"No. This is actually funny," Valerie chuckles. "It's a school thing, so the money has to go back to the school... which means, that the website is paying for things like, cheerleader uniforms, after-school activities..." She starts to chuckle.

Man, this is SO not going to go away... even after the "real" naming of the teams, I foresee people referring to the "McAllen Hentai cheerleaders" up to Tuck #300.

OK, so... what about incorporating it into the story somehow? Let's say that the school colors ARE white and blue and the cheerleaders were debuting a new version of their uniform that superficially resembles a sailor fuku, and the Rat Boyz nickname them... need I go on?

Several teams up that way have "midshipmen" or "Middies" as their name. I like the McAllen Middies.

You know Johnson Controls, Inc and Siemens are in stiff competition in that area of the country. Appropriately, Siemens could be one of the sponsors for the team. Slogan: Take out your Johnson and put Siemens on the wall.

Random thought. Let's say we get the new uniforms and school colors as a change meant to shed the bad previous image of the school(especially if jocks start getting suspended or expelled in job lots). We could thus see a change of the team name as well for the same reasons. If so, does it become important at all what the old colors and name were? A kinda "We don't talk about those days anymore" type of thing. Or is it important and now we need two decisions? A before and after set.

*Oh, shit,* Mike thought, shaking his head before exchanging a glance with George. *They should never've let her on the squad.*

"Man, why'd they let that little fag on the squad?"

"'Cause," Valerie grins as she gives herself some room. "I got special powers!" she says in that idiotic perky cheerleader voice Sabrina had taught her.

"Oh yeah? Like what, Super-Fag-Boy?" sneers one of them as they all loom angrily closer.

"CRISIS!" Valerie shrieks as her hands drop to her skirt. "MAKE!" She pulls the twin wakizashi out of the specially tuned sheaths that make that delightful ringing tone, and rotates the blades as she lifts them above her head. "UP!"

"You guys wanna dance?" she asks sweetly, her teeth bared, as she spins both blades in counterpoint.

"Ohhhhh," she hears Mike vocalize from behind her. "These powers, are not to be used, on mere mortals." She knew he was doing the Speaking-Without-Synching trick from the deeper than usual voice.

Well, if you're going with the pseudo-nautical theme, you could claim that McAllen was named after some obscure naval hero nobody who isn't a student remembers. Sea Hawks, Sea Dogs, Sea Lions might all fit.

If the school is trying to get a new start with a new name, we might want to tailor the name to either 'out with the old' or 'in with the new'.

We might want to look at a more recent trend in team names. Quite a few teams, at least professional sports teams, are naming themselves after an idea or a concept, instead of a person or an animal or the like. The two that first come to mind are the NBA's Miami Heat and the NHL's Minnesota Wild.

Here are some ideas:

- Apocolypse ("It will feel like the end of the world when we get done with you!!")
- Phoenix (mythological animal that consumed itself by fire and rose again from the ashes. Perfect description of the situation at McAllen. I assume that the plural of Phoenix is still Phoenix)
- Titans (in Greek mythology, they are a race of god-like giants. what better name for a football team?)

FYI: I did a quick check, and there is a city called McAllen in Texas. McAllen High School's team name is the Bulldogs. Their colours are Purple and Gold.

Back when I was in college, a friend of mine mentioned that at his high school (in a rural area north of Sacramento, CA, I forget just where), some wealthy rancher donated enough money to the (public) high school to get them to change the team name to Steers, with appropriate school colors.

Might be cute if some wealthy retired admiral on the board of directors of a local military supplier decided that what McAllen needed to escape its anarchist malaise was military pride, starting with navy colors and a change of team name to the Cadets. Wouldn't be fully implemented until next year, of course...

Hmm, I will devote WAY more space here than it's worth to discussing the name "Titans..."

Thing is, since I went to T.C.Williams High in Alexandria, VA (as a foreign-exchange student), the name has instantly raised a flag in my mind.

The interesting thing here is that the T.C.W. Titans were a common ground for decreasing the hostility between two comunities forced to study together (in this case, it was a race matter in the early seventies). So, it might be appropriate in a sense to be the post-change name.

OTOH, the story predates the 2000 movie "Remember the Titans," so this symbolic meaning might not mean much for most.

On the gripping hand, if the TCW Titans' story WERE common knowledge, the choice of the name would seem rather unimaginative. And anyway, it's not alliterative...

About the "sponsor paying to change the name of the team" idea: it's kinda interesting, but Bill Holbrook did kinda the same in his "Safe Havens" strip. The high school team used to be called "The PDAs" when it was sponsored by a Palm-wannabe company, and now that it's sponsored by MSN, the girl teams are "Butterflys" and the boys' are "Hornets" (with the team mascot adding a sting to her MSN-Butterfly costume on boys' games). Meanwhile, Roger, the team mascot (who used to wear a giant PDA costume) went to college, where he nows wear a cellphone costume -- the college team is sponsered by a cell company...

"No. This is actually funny," Valerie chuckles. "It's a school thing, so the money has to go back to the school... which means, that the website is paying for things like, cheerleader uniforms, after-school activities..." She starts to chuckle.

"Who'd have ever thought this would come of an exchange program with that Japanese high school?"

"Well, if Dobson and the school board had been web-savvy enough to look it up on the web..."